Computer Vision Challenges for Chronic Wounds Assessment

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Computer Vision
• Wound Care Technology

Background:

• Chronic wounds affect millions globally, incurring significant healthcare costs.
• Current wound assessment relies on subjective human evaluation, leading to inconsistencies.
• There is a need for objective, automated methods in chronic wound diagnosis and treatment monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and map the existing literature on computer vision applications for chronic wound assessment and healing.
• To identify the maturity of various computer vision techniques in addressing clinical challenges in wound care.
• To highlight areas requiring further research and development for clinical implementation.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive scoping review of 109 articles was conducted.
• Literature was analyzed to map computer vision techniques to clinical challenges in wound assessment.
• The maturity of different computer vision approaches was evaluated based on existing research.

Main Results:

• Computer vision shows potential for objective wound assessment and healing monitoring.
• Significant progress has been made in wound size measurement and tissue type classification.
• Several clinical areas require larger datasets and more extensive computer vision research.

Conclusions:

• Computer vision offers a path towards more objective and accurate chronic wound assessment.
• While promising, further research is essential to translate computer vision advancements into routine clinical practice.
• Addressing data limitations and expanding research efforts are crucial for realizing the full potential of computer vision in wound healing.